The present invention relates generally to the field of measuring the abrasivity of magnetic tape recording media, and more particularly, to an abrasivity measuring arrangement incorporated into a production magnetic tape head.
A problem in tape appliance technology is that there is not an easy, fast way to characterize tape recording media abrasivity, which varies among vendors, tape technology generations, production runs, etc. This is important because abrasivity is related to tape head lifetime. If tape abrasivity is too high, the tape may wear away sensitive elements in the tape head, which may damage the heads, or cause recession of the read and write elements, thus causing an increase in head tape spacing. On the other hand, if the abrasivity is too low, the tape may cause an increase in head tape spacing due to insufficient head cleaning by the tape.